The San Diego Padres' ongoing quest for a World Series (or at least a playoff title). "You know that many runners enter a race, but only one of them wins the prize. So run to win! Athletes work hard to win a crown that cannot last, but we do it for a crown that will last forever." 1 Corinthians 9:24-25

A Wild and Woolly Game

13-11 Rockies

Man, there has got to be something in the air when the Padres and the Rockies played. I mentioned a couple of the weird things that have happened in the past between these two teams like Game 163 and the 22-inning game in my post eariler. Today’s game was almost like we were playing in Coors Field!

It all started in the beginning of the game, really. Kevin Correia started for the Padres and did very well. But he allowed a two-run homer to Yorvit Torrealba in the first inning to get the scoring going. Correia pitched three innings, and besides the homer, threw very well. The next pitcher was Wade LeBlanc. LeBlanc has done really well in his first innings of work, but once he hits that second inning, he essentially falls apart. Same thing happened today. His first inning was really sharp, 1-2-3. But his second was really bad. He gave up THREE runs. Three of them! It was a nasty inning. The next victim, er, pitcher was Chad Reineke. Reineke was average last year when he was with the Padres. He seems to have a problem with giving up a lot of runs. Today, he gave up four runs in the sixth, only two of them earned. In the seventh, Ivan Nova gave up four runs.

That’s 13 runs given up by this pitching staff. Jae Kuk Ryu and Cesar Carrillo had scoreless innings, but that’s a tiny positive. In the beginning of the spring, our pitching staff was really sharp. But it seems like there’s a bug going around the pitchers, and it’s called the “giving-up-too-many-runs virus”. I don’t like it. The cure? Who knows, but if these guys want to be on the Opening Day roster, they’d better heal up quick.

On the offensive side, we hit very well. But once again, it was too little too late. We got things going in the fifth, when we scored five runs. Chase Headley had a huge three-run homer, followed by Kyle Blanks with a solo homer. But the most exciting part of the ballgame for the Padres was probably the bottom of the 9th. I stopped following the game because I thought it was over. The boxscore had a big “zero” in the Padres’ spot for the 9th, so for some reason I thought it was done. But as they say, it’s not over ’til it’s over! Because in that 9th, Chad Huffman hit a grand slam with two outs! But we still fell two runs short, and we fell to the Rockies.

Well, that was the Rockies’ first win of the spring, and of course it had to be against their NL West rivals. Figures that it was a high scoring game too. Either the Rockies’ hitters were really frustrated and ready to win, or the Padres’ pitching was going down the drain. I’d say it’s a combination of both. A few of our young guys had a really good game, so I am very pleased about that. But I am not happy with our pitching. Not happy at all.

It was a really good broadcast, though. It was just Ted and Jerry, and with Jerry on the air so much, it can get very amusing. They actually had Chase Headley up in the booth during the game, and it got pretty funny. Ted thought that Chase would be a really good broadcaster, so he’s like, “Hey, if you don’t have anything else to do, come talk to us and we’ll get you a job!” To which Chase replied, “Well, hopefully I’ll have a job for the next 15 years or so!” But it’s true. Chase has a really good presence on the radio, and I think he would do a good job. He got married in the offseason, and he talked a little about that. He said that since he’s so ugly, he had to take any girl that would have him🙂

Since you all were wondering (riiiight), I decided to do this entry today because I’m planning on sleeping in tomorrow morning, and knowing me, I’ll probably sleep ’til 11 or so. The Padres have a game against the A’s in Peoria tomorrow at noon. One of my friends is actually going to it, so it will be cool to hear his account of the game and to see a bunch of pictures. Josh Geer is starting. Following him will be Cla Meredith, Chris Britton, Mark Worrell, Cesar Ramos, and Matt Buschmann. That’s a lineup of some great pitchers. We’ll have to see if the virus has reached them yet.

8 Comments

YESS! Weekend! Have a great one🙂 Today was one crazy game wasn’t it? Even though our team lost, I’m glad that they finally showed whole bunch of runs in one game! Chase Headley is an amazing guy. I really, really enjoy watching him play and listening to his interviews. Hopefully, they can pull of with a win tomorrow against Oakland. As always, good luck, a win, and GO PADRES!http://hyunyoung.mlblogs.com

The Padres-Rockies rivalry is very underrated. It hinds behind the Yankees-Red Sox, Mets-Phillies, Cubs-Cardinals, and Dodgers-Giants rivalries. I can see it picking up some steam soon.http://metsmainman.mlblogs.com

Kaybee,
Interesting how LeBlanc does poorly later. Normally, guys take a while to warm up and settle down! That happened to Jake Peavy in his start against Team Canada today. He did pretty well, he just had a shaky first inning. Hope you were able to listen to it!

I wish there was a cure to “giving up too many runs virus”, maybe Emily knows!

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